In the past, various types of portable stands which are collapsible, or otherwise portable have been created and utilized. The patented art shows various types of such stands. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,706,609 shows a pedestal type supporting stand which has a tubular arrangement at the bottom end, with one tube telescopically fitted within the outer tube, thereby permitting the legs to fold together by rotating two of the legs relative to the other two. FIG. 2 illustrates the collapsed closed position of the stand. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,288,042 shows another form of a base for a free standing merchandiser wherein the legs are rotatable with respect to one another in order to present a flat configuration when the stand is closed for portability.
Still other versions of stands for various applications are illustrated. U.S. Pat. No. 2,606,522 illustrates a base intended for a bird bath and feeding table wherein the base is provided by having a fixed leg, to which a second leg is attached and rotates to the open position as illustrated in FIG. 2 such that, the second leg is positioned 90° relative to the first leg in order to form a support base. FIG. 4 illustrates the closed position of the base where the second leg is folded by rotating the same relative to the fixed leg, in order to achieve the portability making it more manageable. U.S. Pat. No. 4,763,866 again relates to a stand which is a free standing base, wherein the legs are foldable against one another for portability. Similar comments are applicable with respect to U.S. Pat. No. 5,022,620 wherein the legs may be interconnected and attached for supporting a member, but may be disconnected and removed from one another for portability purposes. It is clear that in order to utilize a stand of the construction as shown in the subject patent, a great deal of work must be expended, in order to connect and fit the legs together and disassemble the same for portability. While the present invention is directed to a portable base and stand for supporting a variety of signage or printed indicia, the stand of the present invention has particular applicability to providing a portable stand for a target utilized at a shooting range. Stands for that purpose have certain required features that will make them useful. For example, patent publication 2004/0036223 illustrates a stand for supporting targets which includes a base, an upright member, and a frame for supporting the target. As indicated therein, the base is secured by means of a pair of chambers which may be filled with sand, fluid such as water or the like, to render the base secure, then the base supports an upright member which is held in position by a screw or bolt. The upright then includes a frame which in turn holds the targets for the shooter. The aforesaid publication also references much of the prior art with respect to stands for target shooting, and explains quite aptly the difficulties encountered with construction according to each of the prior art patents. All of such prior art is incorporated herein by reference.
Again, one of the difficulties associated with presently available stands is that they are not particularly portable, and do require a considerable amount of effort in order to erect the same once the user reaches his desired location. Furthermore, most stands do not present adaptability in terms of the size of targets to be mounted on the support member. It is well known to persons involved in target shooting, different size targets are employed in order to perfect the shooters skills. Hence, a target shooter will advance from a larger target to a smaller target once his skills are improved.
The present invention is intended to provide a stand which is easily constructed, and once constructed, provides ease of portability, ease of erection for use, and provide adaptability for different size targets. Furthermore, the stand of the present invention may be employed in the format of multiple units which may be easily interconnected, thereby to greatly expand the usability of the present invention. In other words, one could employ multiple base units, and interconnect the same to expand the width of the entire target stand, and employ multiple targets thereon.